Following an exciting concert last year saxophonist McCoy Mrubata and American guitar wizard Gary Wittner are back for a series of concerts that forms part of the Cape Town Music Academy’s (CTMA)Cape Town Homecoming series.
These concerts will take place
- Friday 25th July at the Star Theatre, Homecoming Centre from 8pm.
- Saturday 26 July at Café Roux in Noordhoek at 7:30pm
- Sunday 27th July at Joseph Stone Auditorium in Athlone at 4pm.
Gary Wittner
Mrubata and Wittner will perform Cape Town’s foremost young jazz musicians including drummer Nobuhle Ashanti on piano, bass player Sibusiso Matsimela on bass and Joshua Klein on drums. In addition to these concerts Mrubata and Wittner will give a workshop on Saturday 26th July for the Kronendal Music Academy students in Hout Bay. Mrubata will workshop some of his compositions with the students.
At the performance on Sunday 27th July, the students from the Kronendal Music Academy will play a curtain raiser at Joseph Stone Auditorium. This special community performance and workshops workshops are sponsored by the Western Cape Government Department of Cultural Affairs and Sports.
WHAT: Cape Town Homecoming Series
WHERE: & WHEN: Friday 25th July at the Star Theatre, Homecoming Centre from 8pm. | Saturday 26 July at Café Roux in Noordhoek at 7:30pm | Sunday 27th July at Joseph Stone Auditorium in Athlone at 4pm.
BOOKING: Quicket.
INFO: Luvuyo Kakaza Projects Director @ CTMA | T 060 960 8935 | E luvuyo.pkakaza@gmail.com
McCoy Mrubata Biography
Born and raised in Cape Town’s historic Langa as a child McCoy Mrubata absorbed the soulful hymns of the Zion Church, the chants and rhythms of traditional healers and the South African swing of the Merry Macs, an early Cape Town jazz combo that rehearsed across from his home.
Leaving school after the bloody 1976 Soweto uprising, he threw himself into music, studying with Langa legends such as pianist Madoda Gxabeka, tenor saxophonist Winston Ngozi, trumpeter Fezekile “Blackie” Tempi and penny whistle master Robert Sithole.
Moving to Johannesburg in the late 1980s he started recording for Zomba Records, he came into his own as the leader of Brotherhood, a talent-packed band that won the Gilbey’s Music for Africa prize in 1990. He gained international attention in 1992 when he toured the world with Hugh Masekela’s Lerapo and has collaborated with Brazilian greats Airto and Flora Purim. Several of his albums have won the South African Music Award for best traditional jazz release.
Gary Wittner Biography
Throughout a performance career that has spanned 5 decades, guitarist Gary Wittner has played all kinds of gigs and has represented the USA officially 4 times – twice as a Kennedy Center Jazz Ambassador, and once each as a Fulbright Specialist and a US Embassy Outreach Artist. Originally from New York, he has lived in Maine since the 1990s. Gary has played worldwide for jazz audiences in major urban centers (New York City, Boston, Denver, London, Warsaw, Paris, St. Petersburg, Capetown, Johannesburg); tribal royalty in Papua New Guinea and Fiji, jazz royalty (Thelonious Monk’s widow, Nellie) and at the largest arts festival on the African continent. And in between all that he has played locally and regionally in Jazz, Latin, and Middle Eastern bands. Gary has released 7 CDs as a leader or co-leader, spanning a large variety of styles: New Orleans Jazz, Blues/Folk Americana, Swing/Bop/Post Bop, Free Jazz and Latin music.
About the Kronendal Music Academy
Since 2007, Kronendal Music Academy has offered the universal language of music as a stepping stone in the lives of impoverished children from Imizamo Yethu informal settlement and Hangberg fishing village. As the only fully-fledged music school in the valley, at any given time we have well over 100 pupils in lessons and ensembles, and regular performances and external qualifications complement our teaching model. High standards ensure that our core humanitarian values are maintained. Our award-winning programmes not only foster racial and social integration in our community, but also guarantee enriching opportunities for all our children, developing important cognitive skills while exploring previously unavailable horizons.
